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As you all know I have been mulling over a smaller dual-sport bike for awhile. Actually if you read this blog on a daily basis, you'...

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

BMW F800GS Review

I'm in my Marc Coma, Kurt Caselli (RIP) mode , standing on the pegs and hauling ass (100kph which is too fast for this old man) down a backwoods dirt road. The sweeping left hander is coming up way faster than it should, and soon the back brake is locked up as the ditch becomes eerily too close for comfort. Somehow I mange to keep the bike upright and out of the ditch. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the Bimmer's handling characteristics than my skill. The vision of yours truly as the Dakar stage winner, quickly fades to a vision of me upside down in the ditch with a severely broken BMW that isn't mine.

If you remember from my last post, I recently had the opportunity to spend all day aboard BMW's F800GS at the Fundy Adventure Rally. It was actually the perfect testing ground for an adventure motorcycle. Basically in the 11hrs of riding I encountered almost every piece of terrain that an adventure rider would ever encounter. Fast dirt logging roads, loose gravel, ATV paths, steep rocky trails and mud holes. There was even some sandy sections along the way. I also was able to ride it on paved backroads and highway.

Let me also state, that I am far from being a motojournalist, or expert rider, as shown above, and have not ridden a whole lot of bikes, other than my own. I have spent some time on a BMW G650 X-Country and a 1200GS.

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Chris Duff from BMW went over all the controls with me before relinquishing the keys. He specifically showed me how to use the ASC (traction control) and ABS, or should I say how to turn it off for use in the dirt. Pretty straight forward, however this can only be done when the bike is stationary. Any time the bike is shut off, ie, turned off with the key switch, it has be selected off again. Both the ABS and ASC default to on. The suspension can be adjusted on the fly, enduro, road and sport. I left it in enduro for the whole day. So no, I have no idea how well the traction control or the ABS work. I know from the G650, that the ABS works quite well. I doubt it's much different than the 800.

I swung my leg over the bike for the first time, and noticed how small it felt compared to my big Vstrom. The lack of fairing and small windshield, gave it almost dirt bike feel. It did feel quite natural to me, pegs and bars in the right place, not awkward like sitting on a cruiser. The one thing I did notice right away was the handgrips, they felt very narrow, not a fan. Controls were straight forward, turn signals, high beam, hazards, ASC/ABS and Mode controller on the left, heated grip controller, suspension mode controller and the start/stop switch on the right.

Speedo and tach are nicely presented and easy to read, love a dial and not digital. I'm old school I guess. The info display screen to the right of the cluster shows gear selector, fuel quantity, trip, odo, temp and mode selections. plus some other things I didn't play with or really need to know. The fuel gauge only shows the last 1/2. So the display doesn't move until below 1/2 a tank.

If you are used to riding a true dirt bike, this is gonna feel like a tank when you get on it, however for me, it was perfect for the riding we were about to do.

I'll say this, for a bike I had never ridden before I felt comfortable on it right away, I did one small blast up a paved road before heading out on the adventure rally. The mini GS has a wonderful exhaust note, something similar to it's big brother.

Since I was videoing the rally, I took off mid pack in hopes of having to not play catch up all day. I noticed right away the 800 had a lot of low and mid-range power, accelerating through the gears was delightful, with a light clutch pull and easy shifting, which is not normally a BMW trait.

Equipped with knobbie tires the bike inspired confidence at speed, and soon I was passing slower riders without too much effort. The back brake I did find a little sensitive and at times locked up the rear unintentionally. The suspension was set at endure, so it was soft, but still handled the bumps and rough terrain nicely, never once did I feel the back end bounce around, or bottom out.

I fuelled up once in the 500km I rode, BMW says you can expect about 350-400km on a tank. That's respectable.

Low speed handling is easy, the Bimmer is well balanced, I could creep along quite slow in first gear feathering the clutch. I followed a 1200GS through a mud hole and at times had to come to an almost complete stop. I could remained balance on the bike without putting a foot down.

You do notice the weight on steep rocky downhills, and you soon realize your riding an adventure bike and not a lightweight enduro. Momentum can be an enemy too.

Would I buy one.......not to replace my Vstrom. It's just too damn comfortable. I found the GS seat painful after a long day, and for me at 6'1", I'd really need bar risers. But that's not why, because you can change those things quite easily. No, I didn't like it on the highway. 100kph plus was uncomfortable for me, which is weird because I didn't mind doing a 100kph on the gravel standing up. I just couldn't see myself doing a long highway trip comfortably on it. It seemed to struggle to accelerate above 110kph. Maybe it was my big torso wind blocking frame that did it.

Although if I were to have one bike and one bike only, it would be in my top five, that's for sure. I took it places I would never think of taking the Strom. I think the Strom could do it, but not at the same speed or confidence level, or without sustaining damage.

Ideally I want my Vstrom and another 250 dual sport for the rough stuff. Which I can have for less than the price of new 800GS.

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About Me

44 years old, married to a wonderful woman with two awesome daughters, a crazy Chocolate Lab named Molly, and a Yellow Lab named Abbie.

I am also a very amateur film maker and editor, prefer editing to filming, and my big love is writing. I currently have one blog about my love of motorcycles, specifically Adventure and off road riding, and a new blog on my latest passion ultra running.

I am also working with the online magazine CMG (Canada Moto Guide) on a video for the Fundy Adventure Rally, and hopefully some more exciting projects in the future.

Be sure to checkout my 5 part video series Two Wheels Through the Big Land" with my pal Peter Oxley.